


Turbulence

by NinaFujisaki



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017), Talespin (Cartoon)
Genre: Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Comedy, Drama, F/M, Past Relationship(s), Romance, i really don't know what else to tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:54:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29029017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NinaFujisaki/pseuds/NinaFujisaki
Summary: After an ugly fight that broke their relationship apart, Della and Kit went their separate ways.Twelve years later, the Duck family needs an extra plane and pilot to help them on their race for the Missing Mysteries.It's about time this unusual couple gets to meet again, but because of their history, this promises to be a turbulent adventure.
Relationships: Della Duck & Dewey Duck & Huey Duck, Kit Cloudkicker & Molly Cunningham, Kit Cloudkicker/Della Duck
Comments: 20
Kudos: 57





	1. 12 Years Later

**Author's Note:**

> Ah, I can't believe I'm posting this! A Delkit fic! Wow, talk about a rare pair XD  
> But I started shipping them a while ago, and I love them, so I wrote this, and now if you're reading this thank you for your attention and curiosity :)
> 
> Have a nice reading!

_“THIS IS USELESS! It’s impossible to talk to you, you’re impossible to deal with- I’m sick of this!”_

_“Oh yeah?! Well, if you’re sooo sick of me, MAYBE WE SHOULD BREAK UP!!_

_“Y’know what?! MAYBE WE SHOULD!!”_

_“GREAT! So we’re done here!!”_

_“Fine by me!!”_

_“AND BY ME!!”_

_And the loud slam of a door._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That happened twelve years ago, and those two people never saw each other again, going on with their lives in their parted ways.

By Della’s end, she got pregnant not long after that, laid three beautiful eggs, had an accident caused by her recklessness that got her stuck on the Moon for ten years, and has been back home for almost a whole year now.

Among all that, her mind has been too busy – rebuilding a rocket, trying to survive, thinking about her family and the most important: her boys – to concentrate on an ex-boyfriend. Don’t get me wrong, she hasn’t forgotten about him completely nor never thought about him at all through the last twelve years, but it wasn’t a priority. No, she had more important things to worry about… like the run to find the Missing Mysteries before F.O.W.L.

It was to discuss this that the Duck family was all gathered at the foot of the mansion's main staircase at that moment, Scrooge standing in front of them with Beakley at his side, both with looks that said, "time to work".

"Very well, family," Scrooge started. “Beakley and I were discussing and decided that we can't risk letting FOWL get to any more of the missing mysteries before us, so to be able to cover territory faster, ‘we are going to split up.”

He nodded to Bentina, who nodded back and continued,

“We will be two teams. Launchpad will fly Mr. McDuck, Webby, Donald, Louie and I to Africa, to go after the Ruby Eye Panther. Della, Dewey and Huey will go to Sicily, Greece, in search of the golden fleece."

"Erh, question." Huey held up a hand, earning a roll of eyes from Louie beside him. "Don't you think these teams are a little unbalanced?"

Della raised a hand as well, "And I think it's good that you rented another plane for Launchpad to fly, Uncle Scrooge, because I'm not leaving my girl on his hands again." It wasn't a question, but she had to make that clear.

There was no answer for either of them, the room falling silent as all eyes fell on Scrooge. Watching him suddenly nervous and pale as paper. The old duck looked at Beakley once again, this time asking wordlessly for help. The housekeeper slightly arched a brow, asking him if he was serious; and yes, he was. Beakley just sighed.

“Huey, there’s no need to fret, your team won’t be only the three of you. Yes, Della, Mr. McDuck did rent another plane… but not for Launchpad.” All faces became confused and she continued before anyone could speak. "The way to Sicily is too dangerous for only one pilot, you will need help, and this help will provide the plane that will fly you there.”

Donald was the first to catch up on what Beakley meant and instantly turned his wide eyes to his sister. He watched as realization slowly grew on her face.

“Wait, what?!” Her eyes flew from Beakley to her uncle. “Uncle Scrooge, you can’t be serious! Not only you’re giving my plane to Launchpad _again_ , but between he and I you think I’m the one who needs support while flying??”

“That’s not it, lass,” Scrooge tried to explain. “The seas around Sicily are insanely plagued with monsters, and this time of the year happens to be when they come closer to the surface the most – no one really knows why – but it’s too dangerous to only one pair of eyes to fly up there,” he sighed. “It’s not that I don’t believe in you, Della, I just want all of us to have our best chance.”

The woman crossed her arms, still frowning, but it didn’t take long for her uncle’s words to make sense in her head. She still didn’t like the idea of sharing a random plane with someone while her girl was back on Launchpad’s hands, but she resigned.

“Okay, fine. Who’s gonna be my co-pilot then?”

Scrooge’s face grew nervous once again, and just like the first time he looked at Beakley, now begging for her help, but the housekeeper just moved her eyes to her clock-less whist.

“Why, would you look at the time. I still have furniture to clean before we leave for the mission.”

“You don’t have to! The house will be all dusty when we come back anyway!” Scrooge said, the stares of the rest of the family wanting to know what was going on burning him. Especially Della’s.

Beakley shook her head, “I couldn’t possibly do that. Webby, dear, come with me, would you?”

Webby went from arched brow to wide eyes and exchanged one last confused glance with the boys before leaving with her grandmother. Once they were gone, the twins and the triplets moved back to their uncle.

“Uncle Scrooge?” Della called again, and Scrooge gulped.

He wasn’t able to look at his niece, stopping his eyes on his nephews instead. Huey, Dewey and Louie were just absolutely confused, but Donald… Donald looked like he knew what the matter could be and was wishing for his hypothesis not to be true. Scrooge felt bad for disappointing him.

“Uncle Scrooge!” Della snapped, startling him into finally look at her. She snorted. “What? What is it? Did you rent a crazy old airman who still thinks they’re fighting in a war?”

“No, lass, you’re not flying with anyone from navy.” Scrooge sighed, deciding to just say it. “You’re flying with Kit Cloudkicker.

“Who?” Dewey dared to ask, but Donald laying a hand on his shoulder hushed him.

The blue triplet then noticed something that his brothers already had: the heavy, uncomfortable air that suddenly settled around them; Donald and Scrooge simply gazing apprehensively to an expressionless Della.

They stayed like that for what felt like an eternity until, just as sudden as the silence, their mother burst into laughs.

“Yeah, yeah right! _AS IF!_ Uncle Scrooge I have no idea where you got this joke from, but I’ll give you that, it’s so ridiculous that’s FUNNY!”

The boys looked from their still cackling mother to their uncles. None of them showed the slightest hint that what Scrooge had just said was a joke, and after a moment, Della seemed to start noticing that too, her laugh dying as her expression fell to shocked.

“Uncle Scrooge, you have to be kidding, right? You wouldn’t do that to me, right?? Right?!”

The silence from Scrooge’s apologetic expression was enough of an answer.

Dewey opened his beak, intending to call for his mother, but Della just walked to the main door with heavy steps, leaving for the yards with a slam so strong that it shook the entire room.

-

-

-

“Busted!”

Kit jolted backwards, startled by the sudden shout from the cockpit that was supposed to be empty. However, there was an adult she-bear there, with yellow fur, short blond hair, and a frowning expression.

Putting a hand over his heart, Kit sighed.

“Molly, don’t do that,” he complained, walking to the pilot's chair. “What are you doing here?”

“What are you?” She asked back. For anyone else it could have sounded threatening, but Kit could just hear the same nosy tone he knew since he was twelve.

The now thirty-nine-year-old man didn’t answer, trying to concentrate on checking if the plane was okay and ready to fly. Molly didn’t give up.

“You’re going to Duckburg, aren’t you?”

Kit froze, and Molly couldn’t hold back a victorious smirk. As she had said before: busted. She just watched as he sighed again and turned to her with a deadpan face.

“Even if I wasn’t and told you so, would you believe me?”

“Not with the way you’ve been acting since McDuck called, no.”

Kit just rolled his eyes and went back to preparing the plane, but they just spent two seconds in silence until Molly decided to speak again. 

“So, you’re really going. Even though Mom said you didn’t need to. Even though you’ll have to fly with _her_ from all people.” She was clearly questioning her brother’s sanity.

That last line made Kit pause again, but just for one second before he continued his inspection, pretending like what she said hadn’t affected him. After a whole week thinking about it himself, his sister simply putting it out into words _shouldn’t_ affect him.

“This has nothing to do with her, Molly. The Duck family’s in trouble, and they need an extra plane with a pilot they trust. Mr. McDuck called and now I’m going to help old friends. That’s all.”

“Mhmmm…,” The girl really hoped her brother had convinced himself with that, because she didn’t believe in one single word.

Kit frowned a bit at her skeptical tone, but just dropped it and started the Sea Duck’s engines.

“Ok, hop off now. As you well know, I have a place to be.”

Molly seemed to think for a second.

“No.”

“What?” It was with wide eyes that he watched his sister siting on his old chair, the navigator's seat.

“I said no. If you’re really going to meet with the person responsible for ruining your love life forever, you're not doing it alone, I'm going with you."

Kit could just blink at her, a little surprised, but honestly, coming from his sister, he shouldn't be. And by Molly's face, with that "I dare you to contradict me" expression she's got from their mother, he knew doing so would be useless.

"Fine," he resigned with a sigh. "But you better behave."

"Please, Kit, it's me," Molly grinned, fastening the seat belt. "I make no promises."

They took fly, the girl quickly texting Rebecca to tell her she was going along with Kit, while the pilot straightened them in the air. As soon as Molly dropped her phone, however, Kit couldn't ignore that line in the back of his mind.

"She did not ruin my love life forever."

The blonde bear just arched a brow to him.

"Sure she didn't. That's why you had _lots_ of other dates after her, until finding true love with someone else and living happily ever after- oh wait, you didn't."

"I haven't seen you with your prince charming around either."

"Hey, I'm single because I like it better this way, not because one Della Duck crushed my heart."

"She didn't-" Kit started, but bit his own tongue before saying what was one hundred percent a lie. "I'm _fine_ , Molly."

That part was true. Yes, his break up with Della had been terrible and it took a long time for him to stop feeling like garbage, but it's been twelve years now. None of his other few dates went anywhere but with all the honesty: Kit. Was. Fine.

He loved his life, living with his family in Cape Suzette and working for his mother in Higher For Hire. Just like Molly, he was okay without a romantic partner.

And he just needed to keep that in mind. So maybe the idea of meeting Della again would stop making his stomach flip.


	2. Reunion... An Awkward One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! So, yeah, here I am reposting this chapter.
> 
> Sorry again for the ones who had read that version already, especially he canges I made were few, but the chapter as it was before was really bothering me.
> 
> Have a nice reading ^-^

One of Penny’s favorite new hobbies on Earth was driving. Launchpad had taught her (and later Donald taught her right) and since then she has been driving Scrooge’s limo occasionally, while working on her own car.

All that considered, the Moon’s ex-lieutenant had no objections when Scrooge asked her to drive Della and two of her kids to the docks, really looking forward to spending some time with her best friend before she left for one more of the family’s missions.

Penny was taken by surprise, however, by the lack of Della’s usual excitement. The Duck woman hadn’t said or done anything beside huffing and cursing under her breath since they got into the limo, not to mention the weirdly long and silent pauses. That wasn’t like the Della she knew at all.

They were in the middle of one of the pauses when Penny decided to break the silence.

“So…” She cleaned her throat, hoping not to blow that up. “What’s up, bestie?”

Della turned her head to her, her expression still frowned, but now also with a bit of confusion, “What’s up with you saying, ‘what’s up’?”

“Why? Did I use it in the wrong note? I just didn’t want to be harsh when approaching the fact that you look distraught.”

“Distraught? Me?” Della forced a laugh, but it was clearly humorless. “I’m not distraught, not at all, I’m fine! Totally, completely fine, couldn’t be better!” She exhaled, her face clouding up again. “Scrooge’s just an idiot.”

“What did he do this time?”

The “this time” commentary almost got a smile from the duck, but any remnant of this possibility died when she noticed that, for Penny to really understand what was going on, she would have to _tell_ her. Della was able to avoid any topic Kit-related since the boys were laid. She didn’t know how to talk about this part of her past again, even less how to explain it to someone completely out of the loop.

But they were minutes away from meeting the bear himself, and Penny was her friend who was only trying to help. The least Della could do was try to get her bestie tuned.

“The guy Uncle Scrooge called to fly us to this adventure… he is…” Three words, she just needed three simple words to describe it but those were glued in her throat. Instead, “He’s an old acquaintance. We haven’t seen each other since a while before I went to the Moon and we didn’t part ways in good terms. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to see him ever again.”

Penny hummed understanding, “So this guy is the reason why you’re distraught. Would you like me to take care of him for you?"

“No!” She yelped, but then cleaned her throat, trying to calm herself. "I mean, no. It's not necessary, it’s not like he's _the worst person in the world_ , it’s… Kit is… Kit was my…” Della was almost huffing, _why couldn’t she get herself to say that simple word?!_ “We dated for a while, ok?”

"WHAT?!” Came the exclamation from the back seat.

Della cursed herself when she saw the soundproof glass between the seats was still half open. She was struggling to have this talk with _Penny_ ; there was no way she could talk about this with her kids! In an out-of-despair move, she made sure of closing the glass completely, but not before her oldest and middle sons could express their shock a bit more.

"Wait a minute, so this guy we’re meeting with is your _ex-boyfriend_??" It was Huey's voice.

But he was calm compared to Dewey.

"Boyfriend as in boyfriend and girlfriend?? As in he was your boyfriend, and you were his girlfriend?! As in _you were a girlfriend, WHA-”_ And glass closed.

This time, Della huffed. She could count on her boys to repeat (again and again) the words she couldn’t bring herself to use.

“So…” Penny started again. “What I understand from all of this is that you were in a romantic relationship with this person.”

Della didn’t open her eyes nor her beak, just humming in agreement.

“And this relationship ended badly.”

“Exactly.”

It was Penny’s turn to hum again. She didn’t know what else to say, she wanted to help her friend, but the closest of experience with romantic relationships the ex-lieutenant had was from watching Gibbous and Zenith, and they weren’t exactly the type of couple who fights.

In the end, Penny decided to step where she knew was a safe territory.

“If he did something bad to you, I’m making him pay.”

Now Della opened her eyes, a small but genuine smile on her face for the first time. It was great to have a friend like Penny.

“I appreciate that Penny, but you don’t have to, really. As I said, he really isn’t a bad guy. It’s kinda the opposite, actually…” Della murmured that last part, more for herself than to Penny, as her mind drifted away in some memories.

Memories of the times his navigator skills had saved their lives, of the times he had covered her back while they fought Don Karnage’s band, and of the times he literally covered her with his coat to protect her from rains or freezing weathers. No, no matter what had happened between them, Kit was still one of the best, smartest and kindest people she had ever met. It was partially because of that that they didn’t work out…

“We’re here,” Penny said, pulling her friend back to the real world when she parked on the docks.

From the window, Della could already spot the Sea Duck; the huge, yellow plane looked just like she remembered. And waiting by it was a huge brown bear, wearing a brown bomber jacket and a red-and-blue baseball cap. Releasing a sigh to try and calm her shaking heart, Della opened the limo’s door.

Kit felt his heart pounding as he caught sight of Della stepping out of the limo. She looked different—her hair was longer, and she'd apparently lost a leg at some point based on the metal one she currently had—but it was undoubtedly her. It was impossible for his heart not to sink in the slightest at the sight of the two boys with her. She had kids. Of course she did.

She walked towards him and he could instantly tell she was nervous. The look from the Moonlander behind her clearly said 'hurt her and I hurt you', but his focus was on his ex. Della came to a stop just five steps away from him and for a moment, he couldn't believe she was actually there.

"Della," he stated, hoping to break the already uncomfortable air.

"Cloudkicker," her answer was just as short and fast, and not exactly rude. She seemed to want to face him, but her eyes never got to meet his.

"And I'm Dewey." The duckling wearing blue approached a step, looking a lot more secure than Della; his eyes narrowed as he glared Kit with no problem. "Her son."

"Dewey," The other duckling with a red cap pulled Dewey back, laughing nervously. "I'm sorry for him. Hi, I'm Huey."

Kit smiled and shook Huey's outstretched hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you boys." He looked back to his ex. “Twins, huh?”

Before anyone could correct him and say that there was a third Duck boy, a young female bear stepped out from the plane and Della recognized her immediately.

"Molly," she breathed, relieved to see an old friend.

"Dumbella," Molly fired back, crossing her arms. Della internally cringed; it made sense that Molly wouldn't exactly be happy to see her after all these years.

Kit shot his sister a glance, but Molly just shrugged, unaffected. This day promised to be hard enough, and the younger bear making snarky commentaries or replies like that wouldn’t help one single bit.

That was when his phone started ringing. Kit took it from his pocket, surprised to see who was calling.

“It’s your uncle,” he told Della.

Kit hit the answer button, "Hi, Mr. McDuck. How can I help you?"

"We had our other pilot for Africa fall through. I'm sorry to ask this, but do you have any friends who can fly us out?"

Kit just blinked, wanting to laugh for his luck a second later, but a smirk would do.

"Actually, I have better than a friend," he looked to Molly. "My sister happened to come with me and she's a pilot too, a great one."

_"Molly? Well, if she learned from your father, she'll do just fine!"_

"She sure did. Hang on, I'm sending her to you right now, Mr. McDuck."

_"Have Penny drive her up to the mansion. She knows where to go."_

After ending the call, Kit turned fully to the younger bear, who just waited for him to say why she was being mentioned in the phone call.

“Guess what, Mr. McDuck’s pilot to Africa isn’t here and he needs another one. You wanna do it?”

Molly pursed her lips, looking from her brother to Della with a slightly concerned expression. She didn’t want to leave those two alone (even though with the kids there they wouldn’t be _alone_ , alone) but Kit was right earlier, the Ducks/McDucks _were_ friends with her family.

"Sure. I'll do it." She gave Della a pointed look. “But you better not hurt him again.”

"Hey!” Dewey stepped up again. “If someone’s hurt here, it’s my mom! Maybe you should be warning _him_ not to—"

Della clapped a hand over her son's beak.

"Okay, that’s more than enough, young man," she chuckled nervously. “Let’s just… everyone do what we have to do, okay? Is that alright?”

She looked at Kit and, for the first time, their eyes really meet. He just could not ignore the plea for backup in those blue orbs.

“Sure.” And turned to his sister. “Molly, you better go, Mr. McDuck’s waiting.”

Molly and Dewey just silently glared at each other while she moved around them towards the limo. Penny nodded to Della and the kids with a smile and shot one last deadly glare on Kit’s direction before going into the car as well.

Once the limo was gone, Della didn’t allow the air an opportunity to become awkward.

“So, let’s go!” Still holding Dewey, she ran into the Sea Duck.

So many feelings already, and the real adventure hadn't even started yet!


	3. Tense Small Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Here we go with one more chapter ^-^
> 
> Thank you so much to everybody reading, leaving comments and kudos. Writing this story for such a crackship is being a hardwork but also so much fun! I love these two <3
> 
> Have a good reading!

As soon as they entered the Sea Duck, Kit had explained to an anxious Huey that there were two extra seats with belts on the cargo part of the plane, which led the red triplet to rush with his brother to said seats, on an attempt to prevent Dewey from making any unnecessary question.

But that also meant that, as soon as the door dividing the two parts of the plane was closed, Kit and Della were alone in the cockpit.

The woman fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat. By her side, on the pilot’s seat, the man kept his gaze on the sky ahead all the time, but Della could say he was just as nervous. It was sorrowful, if they stopped to think. Kit and she had shared a cockpit thousands of times, for _years,_ even before they started dating; it used to be a familiar scenario, comfortable, but now it just felt awkward and out of place.

The worst part, for Della, was the silence. She hated silence. It reminded her too much of those ten years on the Moon, with only her own voice and the Mite’s roars to listen to. And yet this silence was even worse, somehow. They had so much baggage from twelve years ago that Della had no idea how to start any kind of conversation here.

Anything would be better than this silence tightening her throat, however.

“So-”

She paused when her voice shocked with Kit’s, saying the exact same word, and they turned, surprised, at each other. Huh, looks like they were both uncomfortable with the quietness. As soon as the shock was gone, the two adults immediately looked away, Kit back to staring to the sky while Della tried to find anything else to lay her eyes on.

Kit cleaned his throat, "Sorry, you were saying?"

"No, no, you can go."

"No, I was the one who interrupted you."

"There's no way to know that-"

"Della," he interrupted. Not angry, not demanding, just... gently, silently asking her to listen. She almost wanted to close her eyes and just appreciate the way he'd say that, but Kit's brown eyes were looking at her by the corner. "Please, I insist. Say what you want to say."

“Okay…” Della agreed.

And Kit would be lying if he said he wasn’t curious to know what her next words would be. Did she want to know how he has been doing, like he was going to ask her? Or was it about the plans for their adventure? Or maybe -- and the bear didn’t know how to feel about that – could she want to talk about _the letter?_

“Why the Sea Duck?”

Okay, that was far from what he was expecting.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… This is Baloo’s plane, and you’re not Baloo.” _No duh, Della_ , but she couldn’t stop talking now. “What happened with the Ace of The Winds?”

"Oh. Wildcat was late to make some repairs on it, that's all." Kit just focused on the sky ahead again, trying his best to hide his disappointment.

He shouldn't be disappointed. It was his own fault that he dared to hope in the first place. His and his stupid heart’s. Twelve years ignoring him and his letter, and Kit really thought Della would bring that up _now?_ Molly would have smacked him on the head, had she been here.

“Wildcat!” Della exclaimed, happy and relieved for finding a common topic tied down in the past that didn’t have to do with them directly. “Woah, it’s been a long time since I thought about him. How’s he? And Baloo and Becky? I already know how Molly is,” she was able to laugh a bit.

"They're all fine," Kit's answer was short and sharp as a knife.

Della frowned. She was just thinking this travel wouldn't have to be as awkward and terrible as she feared.

"What's that tone now?"

Kit closed his eyes with a sigh, shaking his head while cursing himself mentally. He didn't want to sound rude. Nothing that happened - or didn't happen - twelve years ago mattered anymore; there was no need to make this adventure any harder.

"Nothing," Kit exhaled. "They're... fine. Everyone's fine. Mom’s still running the business, Papa Bear’s still her pilot, Wildcat still can fix anything…” He shrugged. “Nothing really changed to us, to be honest.”

That last line tingled a thought on Della. Nothing changed, he said, but was Kit talking only about Higher for Hire or did he also mean it for… personal life?

“Really?” She couldn’t not ask, the thought creeping into and growing in her head faster than she could decide against it.

The bear just hummed in confirmation, and Della should have let the topic die there. She didn’t really want to know; she was _afraid_ to know if Kit’s life, different than the mess she had made with hers, had been smooth and followed the pattern. She was afraid to hear that the guy who used to be the love of her life had found love with someone else.

All her better judgement was screaming to let that go. But Della has always been her own greatest enemy.

“And what about you?”

That finally made Kit turn his head to her, their eyes meeting.

"What about me?"

Della didn’t answer. His gaze upon her was clogging up her throat, messing the words in her head. Kit just waited patiently, his eyes not leaving her face for a second.

_TUNK!!_

The loud rumble shook the entire plane, followed by a tug that felt like holding them in place.

“What was that?!” Della was the first to exclaim, they both breaking out of their trance

The two adults started looking around, searching for what the heck had just happened.

“MOM!” Came Huey and Dewey’s cry from the cargo.

Della’s heart leaped at the same time she did, dashing for her kids. She opened the door to find Huey and Dewey clinging on their seats and staring at a giant hook piercing through the back of the plane. Meanwhile, Kit checked the rearview mirrors.

“Aw, darn it,” he swore at the sight of the Sky Pirates’ ship. Now the sensation of being pulled from behind made sense: they were. “We have company!”

“Who?” Della asked coming back to the cockpit, this time followed by the two ducklings.

“Karnage.”

“Wait- _Don_ Karnage?” To Kit’s surprise, the reaction didn’t come from Della, but from the blue kid, Dewey.

“Aw Phooey,” It was the woman’s turn to curse under her breath. “What do we do now?!”

Kit took a split second to think, before grabbing the steering wheel firmly, “Everybody hold on, I’m gonna try to lose them.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Huey pointed out before the bear could speed up.

Following the direction the red duckling was signing at, Kit’s face instant lowered when he saw the hook. The only way to get rid of that would be losing half of the Sea Duck.

“Great,” Kit huffed, crossing his arms.

Dewey turned to his mom. She had to have a plan, right? But Della just bit her lower beak, slowly getting to the same conclusion Kit already had.

“It looks like we’ll take longer to get to the island than we planned, boys.”


	4. Fight in The Sky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's just 4 more hours until it's officially Monday and we finally get the Lost Cargo of Kit Cloudkicker episode!
> 
> I wanted to post it exactly on the day but I couldn't control myself anymore and I think this chapter can hit better before canon hits all of us and destrois my bases for this story once and for all.
> 
> Thank you everyone who's been reading and commenting so far <3 You guys really motivate me.
> 
> Without furter ado, have a nice reading ^-^

This wasn’t the first time Della had the (dis)pleasure to meet the captain of the Sky Pirates since she came back from the Moon. The duck woman remembered quite well when Karnage stepped out of his ship with some of Scrooge’s enemies to fight her family; she remembered fighting him herself. And she remembered what he told her when he recognized her.

_“Oh, long time no see! But aren’t you a bit far from Cape Suzette, my dear Elizabeth?”_

Karnage _knew_ he was provoking, yes, but there was no way he’d have seem such negative response coming. Something unleashed inside Della after that commentary, and suddenly the usual fight between enemies became her own personal hunt for that dancing wolf’s head. If Louie hadn’t stepped out of the ship moments later, she could have accomplished it.

But Karnage had survived and now the world decided to make that her business again. Hers, her sons’, and Kit’s.

Peg-Leg Meg, a very buff woman, and a guy that more looked like a rat were the ones who threatened them to leave the Sea Duck with swords aimed to their backs. The rest of the crew was crowded around the plane, chanting “Yoho yo! Yoho yo!” tenebrously at the pace of Don Karnage hitting the tip of his sword on the metallic floor.

The captain’s devilish grin would just grow with each new person he saw leaving the familiar yellow plane.

“Ha!” he exclaimed, lifting both his arms; the chanting stopped. “Would you look at this! Three awfully familiar faces," his face turned to pensive when he looked at Huey. "And you... I feel like I know you too somehow."

The red triplet just blinked, not knowing if he should say something or not, but didn't have the chance when Kit spoke up.

"Karnage, as good as it is to see you - but no - I have nothing for you today."

The glare Karnage shoot at him was suddenly free of amusement, "Nothing for me, you say. Are you sure about that?"

That plus his sarcastic tone got Kit by surprise, not understanding where the wolf was coming from, but years of practice had taught him that the best tactic was to keep the captain talking.

"Yeah, I'm sure, my plane's empty."

“Are you _certain_ you want to go with this answer, Cloudkicker?” Karnage asked with a defiant look. “You know I hate when people try to play me dumb.”

Kit could just blink, assured that his face was showing all his extreme confusion right now. What the heck was that crazy pirate talking about??

“Look, you can check by yourself. The plane’s empty, I have nothing you could want!”

That answer didn’t please Karnage, who was now growling like the wolf he was.

“Are you telling me he didn’t tell you?!” Not waiting for an answer, he pointed to the direction of the two ducklings. “GIVE HIM TO ME!”

The buff pirate, Hattie, grabbed Dewey and threw him to the captain like a football. Della and Huey shouted his name, but were stopped from advancing by the two other pirates' swords still pointing at them.

“Karnage, if you dare touch one single of his feathers, I swear-!” Della started a threat.

But the captain didn’t seen to hear her, all his attention turned to the kid he was holding by the blue t-shirt’s collar.

Dewey smiled sheepishly, “Hey, Karnie. No number today?”

“I do not perform for the ones who don’t show respect,” Karnage growled, clearly mad, before start shaking the boy in his hands like a rag doll. _“And you certainly didn’t show respect hiding what you did to me from your own father!!”_

“… My what now?” It was the first thing to come from Dewey’s mouth as soon as the pirate stopped shaking him. His head was very dizzy, and he _really_ hoped that had made him misheard Karnage somehow.

Still pending from the wolf’s grasp, he turned his head to where his family and Kit were standing. Dewey could swear he saw gears slowly turning inside their heads. Until realization seemed to hit Kit and Della.

“Wait a minute…” the bear started.

“Are you suggesting-” the duck gasped.

The ex-couple exchanges a quick, shocked glance between them before turning back to Karnage and throwing at him a strong and fast rain of _no’s_. There were “no”, “no way”, “are you insane?”, “you’re flying _way_ too high, buddy” and some other lines. They were being so passionate about their denying that the pirates around them took a step back in fear.

“There’s no way they can be mine!” Kit suddenly stopped, his head so much of a mess that he couldn’t think before turning his wide eyes to Della. “THERE IS?!”

Della looked at him in a way as if _he_ was the insane one now and as if _she_ was about to become insane herself.

_“OF COURSE NOT!!”_

“That’s not how biology works…” Huey could only murmur, looking clearly weirded out.

Noticing her oldest son’s state, Della gave the longest, heaviest sigh in history.

“No,” she repeated pointedly, one last time, to Karnage. “He is not their father, ok?”

The captain blinked in confusion, almost dropping Dewey from his grasp when he used one of his hands to point at them.

“Wait, so you two aren’t together again?”

 _“No!”_ they intoned together, so embarrassed by yet another assumption from the pirate that they couldn’t bring themselves to cross looks between each other.

Karnage tilted his head a bit, his expression looking like a kid who had his fun ruined.

“What a shame. I thought Elizabeth would’ve found her way back to her Will Turner.”

Oh jeez, _now_ they couldn’t look at each other. Kit had completely forgot Karnage used to compare them with the main couple of that pirate movies franchise. That line didn’t help Huey’s brain to get out of its tilt either. Meanwhile, Dewey grunted the loudest _bleeergh!_

“Stop, stop with this torture! Just kill me already!” He dropped his head backwards.

Karnage’s grin grew back, “My pleasure.”

He pulled his sword and at the blink of an eye, the blade was inches away from the boy’s throat. Dewey tensed immediately and so did the others. Della looked around, desperate to come up with a plan or just something she could say. She knew the captain of the Sky Pirates; if he really wished to kill someone, he would.

“C’mon, Karnage, give it a break,” It was Kit who said, with a firm voice and serious expression. “He’s just a kid!”

The wolf's grin died on his growl as he spined to the bear, shaking his sword at Kit's face instead.

"And so were _you_ when you started frustrating my Papa's plans, REMEMBER?!" Karnage used his sword to point at a painting on the ship's wall.

It was another wolf, very similar to the pirate in front of them, even by the clothes, but the one on the painting was missing a piece of his ear.

That new piece of information got the Ducklings’ attention, Dewey’s especially, whose surprised eyes turned to his mother’s ex-boyfriend. Kit had dealt with the Sky Pirates when he was a kid too?

“I am _not_ letting another generation of Karnages be ruined by a child! I’m killing this boy dead not even if I have to cook him alive!” He stopped, an idea clicking in his head. They weren’t far from Mount Etna, in Italy.

The captain snapped his fingers, "Hattie, the other one."

Understanding the order instantly, the buff pirate grasped Huey's entire body with one big hand and started walking to her boss.

That was the last straw for Della. She was ready to step up, ready to probably steal Peg-leg Meg's and the other guy's swords when they tried to stop her from freeing her sons, but before the duck could make one move, she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder.

She lifted her eyes to find Kit's. He shook his head slightly before moving his eyes around. Della didn't take much to see what he meant: they were surrounded, by way more than Don Karnage and three of his pirates. Not to mention, the captain could do something against Huey or Dewey at any second if she tried to rebel.

Controlling her temper wasn't easy, but Della made it; Kit's comforting touch helping more than she'd like to admit.

“You two,” Karnage sung happily, pointing at them. “Are going to the cells. But you better not try anything. This one,” he lifted Dewey. “I’m gonna hurt anyway. But that one?” He now pointed at Huey, still being held by his crewmate. “He’ll only be harmed if you don’t behave.”

“We’ll be fine, Mom, don’t worry,” Huey said, trying to give her a calming smile.

“Yeah! Forget about us, run, save yourself!” Dewey exclaimed, gaining a frown from his brother.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Yeah, yeah, enough talking.” With one last snap of fingers from Karnage, the pirates started moving.

Kit and Della could just watch as the boys were taken more and more far from them.

-

-

-

The two adults were thrown into a cell.

Not one minute after the pirate who put them there left, Della was searching around, trying to find a way to escape. An old, malleable metal rod left on the floor of the cell was the best she could do, and she started picking at the locket with it. The sound of metals scraping was ear-grating, but if that was what she needed to do to get to Huey and Dewey, so be it.

"We gotta get out of here," she declared.

Kit didn't answer, just letting her be, his mind settled on the same thing hers was right now: her two sons.

This was probably the worst time to think about it - the kids were in danger and he wanted to save them probably only less than their own mother - but Kit simply couldn't banish the thought from his head.

When Karnage mentioned about him being the boys' father, for a moment there, Kit's mind forgot everything about biology and focused only on math.

He and Della had broken up twelve years ago.

Her sons couldn't be younger than eleven.

That realization hurt in a way that he hadn’t felt similar since... well, since their breakup. Just the idea of Della ignoring his letter without a care and building a life with someone else was painful, but Kit was doing his best to keep those feelings in check, especially if that happening resulted on two great kids like Huey and Dewey.

However, to think that Della had gotten over their five years long relationship so fast to the point of having kids not one year after their breakup? _That_ was infuriating!

"Would you stop that?!" His anger finally exploded.

Della drops the rod and spins on her heels to him, also angry.

"No, I won't stop that, because I'm the only one here trying to do something to open this door and go get my sons!"

"Well, it's clearly not working! You're just making noise and will probably get hurt!" He huffed, then grunting, "As always."

Della stopped, her wide eyes narrowing at him, "What did you just say?"

"I said 'as always',” he dared to repeat, not allowing himself to be intimidated by that woman half his size. “Twelve years and you didn't change one bit! I'm surprised you listened to me back there on the deck. Really, I'm shocked! After all nothing ever could stop Della Duck, am I right?!" Every word was a shot of sarcasm.

The woman walked to him with heavy steps and put a finger on his face, “Listen here buddy, you have _no idea_ what I went through all these years.”

“Well, whatever it was, it seems like it didn’t affect you much. You’re still the same!”

“And so are you then! After all, this is exactly where we left off, isn’t it?! You telling me what to do!”

"You mean trying to save your life?? Oh yeah, I really should stop trying to do that."

"What you should've done was try to trust me!

"You were the person I trusted the most in the world!! And I thought it went both ways, but you wouldn’t even listen to me when I said a dangerous bet with some snobby pilots, who were clearly provoking you, was not worthy your life!"

"That didn’t give you the right to call off the bet for me! I knew what I was doing!"

Kit signs at her, exasperated.

"This. This is exactly what I'm talking about! You're impossible!" He threw up his hands in frustrations and walked a few steps away from Della, shaking his head.

By doing that, Kit lost the way her eyes got flooded with a piercing pain, just for an instant, before anger took control again.

“Impossible…” Della murmured, repeating the word he had just said, the same word he had used to describe her all those years ago, and she chuckled, humorless. "Well, I'm sorry.”

Even recognizing her sarcasm, Della speaking made Kit turn to her once more. The duck continued,

“I’m sorry I'm still such a _burden_ for you. I'm sorry I'm so _impossible to deal with!_ I'M SORRY I'M NOT CALM AND COLLECTED LIKE THE PERSON YOU SURE HAVE WAITING FOR YOU AT HOME!!"

Kit could just blink, _again_ , and he was getting tired and angry of that too. Why was everything and everyone so confusing today?!

"WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT?!"

Della didn’t have time to catch her tongue, "ABOUT WHOEVER HAD THE DISPLEASURE TO MARRY YOU!"

And once more, Kit was out of words; just starring, astonished, at her.

Un-believable.

"Are you seriously giving _me_ crap for the possibility of me moving on when _you're_ the one with two kids that look like they were born months after our breakup??”

Della froze in that moment. He had noticed the boys’ age then... Of course he had, he was not stupid. Yet, Della hoped- really, really hoped he wouldn’t comment about it. The only two people who knew how she ended up pregnant were Scrooge and Donald, and she would rather tell it to any person other than Kit.

Just so he wouldn’t know how hurt, and stupid, and scared she had felt back then.

Not much different than how she was feeling now, under his glare.

Breathing deeply, Della reunited strength enough to hold his gaze and keep her voice from shaking as she stated,

"You have no right to question me about that."

"Oh, I'm not." Kit’s cold tone was like a punch in her stomach.

He noticed that, but he didn’t care. At this moment, Kit _wanted_ to hurt her. Just so she could have a taste of what it was for him to wait, and wait, and wait for an answer to the letter he spent months putting together. The letter that, long story short, said his most sincere _‘I still love you. Can we please talk?’_.

Her cold silence was enough of an answer at some point. His cold words would need to be the same for her.

"Believe me, I don't care.”

They both fell in quietness after that, holding each other’s gazes for just one more second before breaking apart. Della went to one corner of the cell, Kit to the other, and there they stayed. Feeling the pain and hiding from each other the prospect of tears.

Neither could tell how much time passed before Kit spoke again,

"Our lives have nothing to do with each other’s anymore, Della."

It was a final statement.

One he didn’t see her nodding in agreement, but heard her completing,

"And once we finish this adventure, they'll never have again."

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to leave a kudo or a comment if you enjoyed ^-^
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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